Reinforcement waves
How enemy reinforcements arrive on Messalith's big boards: which missions get waves, the warning an edge is given, and where the soldiers land.
On a big board an enemy that is losing sends for help. A wave is a small new pod of 2 or 3 soldiers who land on the board's edge, awake, and make for the squad's last known position.
Which missions
| Mission | Waves, at most | Soldiers a wave | Arrives | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attacks | 1 | 2-3 | 3 rounds after the first pod wakes | the far edge |
| Sieges | 1 | 2-3 | 3 rounds after the first pod wakes | the far edge |
| Defences | 3 | 2-3 | from round 2, then every 2 rounds | any edge but yours |
Sieges and defences always have waves. An attack has one only where the garrison is 4 or more. A wave is counted with the rest of the force, which never goes above 18. A story mission carries none.
The warning
The squad is warned, and never shown. As its turn starts on the round a wave lands, a line in the log and a chip in the top bar name the edge the wave will land from, and the round. They never name a tile. The log reads "Horns to the north: more of them land this round", and that is all there is.
In that round's enemy phase the soldiers land on the tiles nearest the warned edge that the squad can't see at that moment. If there aren't enough, the rest wait a round. Nothing of an unseen wave is drawn until the squad sees it, so a wave never gives away where it stands.
What it changes
Waves are what keeps a big board from being easier than the old one. A squad of 6 is a lot of guns, and a siege that sends for help is a siege that has to be finished quickly. See board sizes and extra objectives.